System energy optimisation strategies for metros with regeneration

Energy and environmental sustainability in transportation are becoming ever more important. In Europe, the transportation sector is responsible for about 30% of the final end use of energy. Electrified railway systems play an important role in contributing to the reduction of energy usage and CO₂ emissions compared with other transport modes. For metro-transit systems with frequently motoring and braking trains, the effective use of regenerated braking energy is a significant way to reduce the net energy consumption. Although eco-driving strategies have been studied for some time, a comprehensive understanding of how regeneration affects the overall system energy consumption has not been developed. This paper proposes a multi-train traction power network modelling method to determine the system energy flow of the railway system with regenerating braking trains. The initial results show that minimising traction energy use is not the same as minimising the system energy usage in a metro system. An integrated optimisation method is proposed to solve the system energy-saving problem, which takes train movement and electrical power flow into consideration. The results of a study of the Beijing Yizhuang metro line indicate that optimised operation could reduce the energy consumption at the substations by nearly 38.6% compared to that used with the existing ATO operation.